Anatomy of herpes simplex virus DNA VII. alpha-RNA is homologous to noncontiguous sites in both the L and S components of viral DNA.

Previous reports from this laboratory (Honess and Roizman, 1974) have operationally defined alpha polypeptides as the viral proteins that are synthesized first in HEp-2 cells treated with cycloheximide from the time of infection with herpes simplex virus type 1 until the withdrawal of the drug 12 to 15 h after infection. It has also been shown that the viral RNA (designated alpha RNA) that accumulates in the cytoplasm during cycloheximide treatment and on polyribosomes immediately upon withdrawal of the drug is homologous to 10 to 12% of viral DNA, whereas the viral RNA accumulating in the cytoplasm of untreated cells at 8 to 14 h after infection is homologous to 43% of viral DNA (Kozak and Roizman, 1974). In the present study, alpha RNA and cytoplasmic RNA extracted from untreated cells 8 h after infection were each hybridized in liquid to in vitro labeled restriction endonuclease fragments generated by cleavage of herpes simplex virus type 1 DNA with Hsu I, with Bgl II, and with both enzymes simultaneously. The data show that only a subset of the fragments hybridized to alpha RNA, and these are scattered within both the L and S components of the DNA. There are at least five noncontiguous regions in the DNA homologous to alpha RNA; two of these are located partially within the reiterated sequences in the S component. All fragments tested hybridized more extensively with 8-h cytoplasmic RNA than with alpha RNA. Four adjacent fragments, corresponding to 30% of the DNA and mapping within the L component, hybridized exclusively with the cytoplasmic RNA extracted from cells 8 h after infection.